Box-strap



S. O. GARY.

BOX STRAP.

(No Model.)

.PatentedMay 14,-1889.

Jkf

Wm MW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SPENCER O. CARY, OF BALDWIN, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BOX STRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,246, dated May 14, 1889.

Application filed July 25, 1887. Renewed December 14:, 1888. Serial No. 293,658. (No model.)

To an whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SPENCER O. CARY, of Baldwin, county of Queens, State of New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented an Improved Box-Strap, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specifica tion.

My invention relates to a metal box strapg and it consists in a box-strap composed of a metal band of indefinite length, provided with a strip of textile or felted fabric of co-equal length and imposed flatwise upon one face of the metal band and held in pl? thereon by the side edges of the band, which are turned around and over the respective side edges of the strip and down upon the outward face thereof, all as hereinafter particularly described and claimed. .By this means a fiat metal box-strap is constituted which has upon one of its faces continuously throughout its length a web or portion of yielding and elastic material between its longitudinal side edges, into and through which the fasteningnails may be driven when the strap is nailed to abox, and into which the nail-heads, when the fastening-nails are thus driven, may be sunk, so that they will be below the exposed face of the strap, and be thus protected from contact with external objects and prevented from abrading such objects by such contact, while, furthermore, the completed strap may be bent flatwise at a sharp angle around the corners of packingboxes without liability of the metal band or the yielding and elastic webbing thereon to fracture at such bends.

Figure l is a plan, somewhat in perspective, of a box-strap containing my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the same on the line w 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section of the strap, showing it seated upon a boxboard by a holding-nail. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show modifications in the construction of a box-strap containing my invention.

A is a metal band of indefinite length.

B is a strip of textile or felted fabric-such as cloth, or pasteboard, or the equivalent-of coequal length with the metal band and preferably of a somewhat less width than that of said band, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Thick or heavy woven or felted cloth or heavy pasteboard are adapted for use as the strip B, be-' ing capable of being bent fiatwise Without breaking, and at the same time being readily yielding or compressible. The strip B is imposed fiatwise upon one face of the band A and extends longitudinally thereof, and is held to the band and in position thereon by the longitudinal side edges, a, of the band A, which are turned around and over the longitudinal side edges of the strip B, and downward upon the outward face of said strip. The strip B, thus seated on the metal band, constitutes a web or portion of yielding, elastic, and compressible material throughout the length of the band between the edges thereof.

The strip 13 may, if desired, be made of the same width as the band A, as shown in Fig. 4, and the side edges of both the band and the strip may be turned over together, as shown in Fig. 5, the strip where it is turned over being compressed flatwise upon itself and the edges of the band being turned down flatwise over such compressed portion of the strip, as shown at b, Fig. 5. In some instances this construction may be desirable, as the folded edges of the strip B,within the turned edges of the band,will tend to give increased firmness to the edges of the coupled strap, and thus to obviate the tendency of the strap to buckle lengthwise when being nailed to a box. It is furthermore preferable in forming the turned-over edges of the band A to have them rounded or cylindrical, as shown in the drawings, as thus no sharp edges are presented on the strap. It is also preferable to force or press the portion of the edges a of the band which overlap the outward face of the strip B down into the yielding material of the strip, so that the outward faces of these edges and the outward face of the strip will be in line and level with each other, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. By this construction the outward face of the box-strap is constituted a continuous plane, which is desirable, and the rough sharp edges of the band are covered and protected by the yielding material of thestrip B.

In forming my herein-described strap a wire may be placed along the edges of the 100 strip 13, as shown at Z), Fig. 6, and the edges of the bandA rolled around and over the wire and then down upon the face of the strip 13. This construction will be found useful in making my improved box-strap in a heavy form for use on large packing-cases, where there is great strain on the strap. Moreover, the wires will facilitate the folding of the box-strap flatwise over the corners or angles of packing-cases, so that the angle made by the strap will be effected neatly and without buckling.

The strip of yielding and elastic material B, which is combined with the metal bandA, as described, is composed, as stated, of a felted textile or equivalent fabric,which may be bent flatwise or upon itself in its normal condition without breaking at the bend. This enables the completed band to be bent or turned closely and sharply around the corners or edges of the packing case or box to which it is applied without fracturing the strip 13 at the angle or turn. This result is highly desirable, box-straps composed of material which is liable to fracture when bent flatwise are consequently liable to break at the corners of the case, and thus to weaken the strap and impair its eifectiveness. This is espe cially true of wooden box-straps, which, in order to prevent their breakage at the corners of packing'cases when applied thereto, have to be thoroughly wetted or watcr-soaked. 'When such straps become thereafter dry, they are still liable to break at the angles, and when removed from the packin g-case are of but little if any further use as boxstraps, owing to their increased tendency to fracture in their thus dried. state. A box-strap constructed according to my invention does not need wetting to produce flexibility, but is always ready for immediate use, and it may be turned closely around the edges of a packing-case without liability of fracture at the angles thus formed in it, the strip of described material, B, stretching somewhat at the bend and supporting or filling the angle formed in. the metal band, so that the liability of the metal to break at the turn is obviated.

It is obvious that in constructing my improved box strap somewhat thinner metal may be employed for the band A than is usually employed in ordinary metal boxstraps, the presence of the strip 13 in my strap supplying the additional. strength required by the diminution of the thickness of the metal. An economy in manufacture is thus secured, and such lighter metal being employed it is evident that the necessity of punching or forming in the metal band holes for the fastening-n ails, in order that such nails may be readily driven through the strap, is wholly obviated, the nails being easily driven through the thinner metal after passing through the strip 13.

It is also obvious that the strip 13, of textile or felted fabric, extending longitudinally throughout the outward face of the strap, furnishes a yieldingan d compressible web or portion. along the strap, into which the fasteningnails may be driven arbitrarily, so far as 1ocation on the strap is concerned, and into which the heads of the nails will be sunk and inclosed when the nails are driven home. The use of corrugations or bosses formed in the metal band, between or within which the fastening-nails are intended to be driven, in order that their heads may be prevented from contact with or abrasion of external objects, which corrugations or bosses entail considerable expense in the manufacture of a metal box-strap, is entirely avoided.

It is furthermore obvious that the box-strap composed of the metal band A and the strip of textile or felted fabric, B, may be bent at a sharp angle around the corners of a box without the liability of either the band or strip to break across or at such sharp bend. Both metal and wooden boxstraps as heretofore made are exceedingly liable to fracture more or less when bent sharply llatwise around the corners of a box. Such fractures weaken the strap, and in the case of the metal strap produce ragged edges or projections on the strap at the box-corners, while in the case of the wooden strap they cause splinters of greater or less length to appear projecting from the box-corners. In either case they cause the presence upon the strapped box of excres' ences, which are annoying and even danger ous to the handlers of the boxes.

By means of my improved box-strap, described, a neat smooth corner or angle is produced where the strap is turned around the box edge, and the strip B serves to so support the metal band at the turn that the liability of the metal band to fracture is prevented.

I am aware that hoops for round or cylindrical packages-such as barrels-have been heretofore made consisting of a strip of wood inclosed in a metal band with the edges of the said band turned over the edges of the wooden strip. It is not my intention to claim, nor do I claim herein, such a structure. \Vooden hoops are capable of effective use upon cylindrical packages where there are no angles or corners to which the hoop has to be fitted by sharp flatwise turns, and such use is common and well known; but such hoops or wooden strips, even when inclosed, as stated, in metal bands or shields, are incapable of effective use as box-straps, the exposed wood being liable to fracture and splinter at the angles of the box, and thus to produce the obj ectionable features h ereinbefore named, and which it is one of the objects of my present invention to obviate. Furthermore, when the fastening-nails are driven into a wooden. box-strap or into a wooden strip constituting part of the structure of such a hoop, as has been stated, and the nail-heads are sunk into the wood, the wood is exceedingly liable to be thereby fractured, owing to its brittleness. As a consequence of this it is well known. that all wooden box-straps have to be soaked with Water, in order to render them usable effectively, and it is to the obviating of the necessity of such a fracture that one feature of my invention is directed. It is my intention, therefore, to define my invention in my claim hereunder to be a metal box-strap composed of a metal band of indefinite length, provided with a strip of textile or felted fabric 7 of coequal length imposed flatwise upon one felted fabric and of performing both functions without the liability of the strap in any of its parts to sufier fracture thereby.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A box-strap composed of a metal band of indefinite length, provided with a strip of textile or felted fabric of coequal length and imposed flatwise upon one face of the metal band, with the longitudinal side edges of the band turned around and over the respective side edges of the strip and down upon the outward face thereof, as described,and for the purposes set forth.

SPENCER C. CARY.

Witnesses:

A. S. FITCH, A. G. N. VERMILYE. 

